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FTSE seen opening higher

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> is seen opening as much as 1.7 percent higher on Wednesday, recovering some of the sharp losses of the previous session. The blue-chip index is seen opening up as much as 78 points after falling 157.23 points, or 3.6 percent, on Tuesday as fears of a sharp global slowdown continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

11 November 2008 06:40 AM

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LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> is seen opening as much as 1.7 percent higher on Wednesday, recovering some of the sharp losses of the previous session.

The blue-chip index is seen opening up as much as 78 points after falling 157.23 points, or 3.6 percent, on Tuesday as fears of a sharp global slowdown continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

Further clues as to the extent of the slowdown will come at 9:30 a.m. when unemployment data is released.

"While analysts are expecting the unemployment rate to increase, the rate is slowing down so this could be a good sign," said David Evans, market analyst at BetOnMarkets.com. "The FTSE should stay in the positive unless the employment data comes out worse then expected."

Investors will also be keen to see the latest Bank of England Inflation report, which should show that inflationary pressures are easing, justification for this month's 1.5 percentage points base rate cut.

The parlous state of the financial sector will again be the subject of close scrutiny after the United States pledged more support for struggling insurer AIG on Monday, a move which failed to shift investor conviction that the economy is set for a long and deep recession.

Miners may see a slight recovery of fortunes as metals prices, which have seen sharp falls in recent days have increased slightly.

Marks & Spencer , Bunzl , Cobham and BP are going ex-dividend and are set to take 7.56 points off the index.

Stocks to watch on Wednesday are:

BARCLAYS

Some of the bank's biggest shareholders have threatened to vote against the planned 7 billion pound capital raising unless it improves the terms of the deal, newspapers reported on Wednesday.

BRITISH AIRWAYS

The airline's current head of sales and three former executives will appear at a committal hearing over allegations that they colluded with another airline to fix the price of fuel surcharges.

RDF MEDIA

The management of the media company is understood to have put a 50 million pound offer for the company to its non-executive directors.

AMEC

The company releases its trading results

J SAINSBURY

The supermarket group releases its first-half results

LAND SECURITIES

The property company releases its first-half results

THOMSON REUTERS

The information company releases its Q3 results

TULLOW OIL

The company releases its trading results

(Reporting by Simon Falush; Editing by Erica Billingham)

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Last updated: 12 November 2008, 09:15